John Cleese's Barack Obama moment

The highlight of my time on the sports desk of the Western Daily Press was trying to get hold of Monty Python and Fawlty Towers' comedian John Cleese.

The man responsible for the Ministry of Silly Walks is also a lifelong Bristol City fan. But when, against the expectations of his UK agent, he picked up the phone in his Californian home and called the sports desk to talk about his love for the Robins, he also let slip a little gem that set the world newswires on fire.

Cleese, like much of America, has fallen under the spell of Democratic candidate Barack Obama and, should Obama win the nomination to run for President, the former Monty Python funny man intends to offer his services as a speech writer.

Sadly for me, the legend of British comedy called back two days after I had finished my placement and the call was taken by a colleague. But it has been entertaining seeing the story spread and reliving Monty Python's greatest hits in the comments sections of each newspaper website.

Follow the story's escalation from the Western Daily Press, to the New York Times to the LA Times and a nice link back to the original story. The Independent, the Scotsman and a wealth of websites around the world also enjoyed digging out their finest Python references for the occasion. Hold the Front Page also flagged it up within the journalism fraternity.

And John, if you're following it all, apologies for sparking what must be a number of calls to your PA all in the name of a quick chat about Bristol City's prospects of promotion to the Premiership.

Bristol Evening Post cuttings

Cuttings from 10 days on the sports desk of the Bristol Evening Post and the Western Daily Press:

Richie Lambert (above) on his new role as a lone striker in Bristol Rovers' 2-2 draw with league leaders Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium. Making the back page was Steve Elliott (below). The defender was happy to talk after his return from injury and resisting a scintillating Swansea comeback in the second-half to hold out for a point.



Ian Holloway was to be guest of honour at a charity quiz night organised by Rovers' keeper Steve Phillips (above). The modern pentathlon World Cup series came to Somerset (below) and local athlete Sam Weale had a chance to qualify for the Olympics.




A long night at a fans' forum organised by a local church paid off with a back page lead. Head coach of Bristol Rugby Richard Hill, and club captain Matt Salter, spoke out on the club's proposed temporary switch to Rodney Parade in Newport, "because it's a nasty place to go" (above).

Bristol City's veteran striker Dele Adebola talked about the perils of the playoffs at Bristol City's Thursday press conference. He should know, he experienced them five times with Birmingham City.



A second back page lead: Bristol Rovers' director of football Lennie Lawrence revealed Rovers are set to spend £700,000 on the pitch they share with Bristol Rugby Club to ensure a surface that isn't shocking (above).

Bristol Rugby's Richard Hill backed Brian Ashton and aired his views on the appointment of Martin Johnson (below). Both stories were gleaned from meetings at the fans' forum in Keynsham.


Clinton Barr, a Bristol motocross rider works as a bricklayer during the week and represents Great Britain at the weekends (below).


Double olympic judo medallist Kate Howey, MBE, was in Bristol to present an award to a local club (above).

Blackadder's Baldrick is a Bristol City fan. Seeking comments from as many famous Bristol City fans as I could find, I found out comedian Tony Robinson held a season ticket at City for 28 years but relinquished it two years ago.

He claims he was therefore inadvertantly responsible for their scintillating form over the past two seasons. Other fans were cricketer Marcus Trescothick, rugby personality Gareth Chilcott and Bristol comedian Mark Watson.



A disabled table tennis player based in Bristol was named in Great Britain's paralympic team heading to Beijing (above).

Bristol Rovers' captain Stuart Campbell and teammate Craig Hinton have started preparing for life after football (below).



A back page lead on the Swindon edition of the Western Daily Press after Town's press conference (above). Manager Maurice Malpas spoke out on his plans for the summer and introduced a new chief scout (below), the man who unearthed former Manchester United and England defender Gary Pallister.




As part of the famous fans piece, I chased comments from the Premier League's chief executive and Bristol City fan Richard Scudamore. He responded in time for Saturday's back page, on both the Western Daily Press (above) and the Bristol Evening Post (below).